Ma Evans’ Nut Roast

Have you started your countdown to Christmas? Do you have any family traditions? I grew up in England to a Brazilian father and Chilean mother so our Christmases tended to be eclectic.

Once I become an adult and certainly after I moved to Spain, I started to incorporate more British traditions at Christmas. Now it doesn’t seem like Christmas unless we have a roast dinner with all the trimmings followed by mulled wine and a flaming Christmas pudding.

I’ve been vegetarian for over twenty years so I’ve never eaten turkey. That doesn’t stop me enjoying a traditional roast, instead of the meat I opt for a nut roast. Today I’m sharing my mother in law’s recipe for nut roast. It’s a lot more moist than other nut roasts I’ve tried and its a huge family favourite (including the carnivores who cut big fat slices to go with their roast turkey).

It’s not a quick dish to make, but its very easy. You just need to allow yourself plenty of time to prepare. You can make it the day before and refrigerate or a few weeks before the day and freeze it.

Ingredients

1 and a half cups cooked brown rice

1 and a half cups of walnuts (if you haven’t got walnuts, substitute another kind of nut)

half cup of cashews ( I like using cashews as they go nice and soft, absorbing the flavours well but once again you can substitute – I’ve used Brazil nuts before)

Cook onion in the butter until translucent then season with pinch of salt and add the garlic, chopped mushrooms and herbs. Cook slowly until the liquid released from the mushrooms has been reduced

Leave to cool five minutes then combine this mixture with the cooked rice, nuts, eggs, and cheeses

Season to taste with black pepper and a little more salt if necessary (it depends on the saltiness of the cheeses)

Lightly butter a loaf tin and line with buttered greaseproof paper. If you haven’t got a loaf tin you can probably use a straight sided soufflé dish but you need the height to slice it and keep it moist in the middle

Fill the tin and bake the loaf for 1.5 hours until the top is golden and rounded. The loaf should be firm when you give it a shake.